May 22, 1998

FACT SHEET

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
(Annapolis, Maryland)
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For Immediate Release
May 22, 1998
FACT SHEET
PROTECTING AMERICA'S CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURES: PDD 63
This Presidential Directive builds on the recommendations of the
President's Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection. In October
1997, the Commission issued its report calling for a national effort to
assure the security of the United States' increasingly vulnerable and
interconnected infrastructures, such as telecommunications, banking and
finance, energy, transportation, and essential government services.
Presidential Decision Directive 63 is the culmination of an intense,
interagency effort to evaluate those recommendations and produce a workable
and innovative framework for critical infrastructure protection. The
President's policy:
Sets a goal of a reliable, interconnected, and secure information system
infrastructure by the year 2003, and significantly increased security to
government systems by the year 2000, by:
Immediately establishing a national center to warn of and respond
to attacks.
Ensuring the capability to protect critical infrastructures from
intentional acts by 2003.
Addresses the cyber and physical infrastructure vulnerabilities of the
Federal government by requiring each department and agency to work to
reduce its exposure to new threats;
Requires the Federal government to serve as a model to the rest of the
country for how infrastructure protection is to be attained;
Seeks the voluntary participation of private industry to meet common goals
for protecting our critical systems through public-private partnerships;
Protects privacy rights and seeks to utilize market forces. It is meant to
strengthen and protect the nation's economic power, not to stifle it.
Seeks full participation and input from the Congress.
PDD-63 sets up a new structure to deal with this important challenge:
a National Coordinator whose scope will include not only critical
infrastructure but also foreign terrorism and threats of domestic
mass destruction (including biological weapons) because attacks on
the US may not come labeled in neat jurisdictional boxes;
The National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC) at the FBI which
will fuse representatives from FBI, DOD, USSS, Energy,
Transportation, the Intelligence Community, and the private sector
in an unprecedented attempt at information sharing among agencies
in collaboration with the private sector. The NIPC will also
provide the principal means of facilitating and coordinating the
Federal Government's response to an incident, mitigating attacks,
investigating threats and monitoring reconstitution efforts;
Information Sharing and Analysis Centers (ISACs) are encouraged to be
set up by the private sector in cooperation with the Federal
government and modeled on the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention;
A National Infrastructure Assurance Council drawn from private sector
leaders and state/local officials to provide guidance to the policy
formulation of a National Plan;
The Critical Infrastructure Assurance Office will provide support to
the National Coordinator's work with government agencies and the
private sector in developing a national plan. The office will also
help coordinate a national education and awareness program, and
legislative and public affairs.
For more detailed information on this Presidential Decision Directive,
contact the Critical Infrastructure Assurance Office (703) 696-9395 for
copies of the White Paper on Critical Infrastructure Protection.
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